5/30/13

Pinspiration: Cookie Dough Bites

I am not vegetarian and definitely not vegan. I do not have a gluten sensitivity or an aversion to sugar. I do, however, love to try out new recipes that fall into these categories. Why? Because I think it's a good thing to eat different kinds of foods. I think limiting animal fats, sugar and gluten are good for your body and overall well-being. I just FEEL better when I eat more natural foods. Don't you?

So combining this pin and this pin (and my obsession with cookie dough), I made my own version of cookie dough bites. From what I read, these are completely gluten-free (even with the chocolate chips) and have no added sugar besides what is in the chocolate chips. I am pretty sure that if you use vegan chocolate chips it could be vegan and non-dairy as well. I am not fully educated on gluten free and vegan diets so please correct me if I am wrong with these assumptions. If you have a sensitivity or preference, feel free to change the ingredients below.

Here's what I did:

First, get your ingredients:

*1.25 cups of gluten-free flour (I used Trader Joes which is a combo of brown rice flour and potato starch - you can use coconut flour/almond flour, etc.)
*Dash of Sea Salt
*1 tsp of vanilla
*1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
*1/4 cup of unsweetened coconut milk (natural or vanilla)
*1/4 cup of maple syrup
*Mini Chocolate chips (add as many or as little as you want)

Next, mix the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients together. Then add both together and mix well. My mixture was very crumbly so I added a tiny bit more coconut milk.

Start to form the dough into a ball and see if it sticks together. You want to get a ball like this...basically you want the dough to be like regular cookie dough consistency.

I spread mine out into a pan and put in the fridge to chill. Because of the coconut oil, these will soften as they get warm so if you want them firm, they will need to be chilled. I preferred them softer so I let mine sit out a bit before eating them.

Also, the other pins I saw cut had these cut into bars but I think bars are too much so I did bites instead. Bites are perfect for a little sweet snack and you can have as many as you want.

The best thing about these little goodies - they really do taste like cookie dough and besides the chocolate chips, they are not made with any additional sugar! You honestly cannot tell there is not white or brown sugar in them!

Let's see...the bad thing about these...they are addicting. I could not stop eating them! I do think mine were a bit too grainy and I think it's because I added too much flour. I adjusted the amount in the recipe above so if you follow it, you shouldn't have the same issue.

The consensus...I really like these. I definitely believe there is room for improvement but overall they are a fun sweet snack and definitely satisfy any cookie dough cravings!